Matt Withrow Visits North Shore Track and Field

Matt Withrow speaking to our team yesterday

One of the coolest things about the sport of track and field is that some of the sports most accomplished people are incredibly approachable and generous with their time.

Former Andrew High School (Tinley Park, Illinois) state champ and then multi time All- American at the University of Wisconsin Matt Withrow is one of them. Matt was introduced to me through our basketball coaches Dana Leonard and Matt Stennis. Matt Withrow now works for Adidas.

Yesterday he came to our practice and spoke to our team on the eve of our first outdoor track meet. Here were my takeaways.

Matt was cut from his 6th grade track team but 6 years later was arguably the best high school runner in America when he won the Footlocker Cross Country Meet which brings together the top 40 boys and girls from across the country. Clearly, how good an athlete you are in 6th grade does not have much to do with how good you will be when you fully mature.

Matt was pretty successful his sophomore year in high school but that led to some problems for him as a junior in high school when he became a bit too self-absorbed. His high school coach took him aside and said that every day he wanted Matt to think about 1 thing he was going to do better to improve himself and 1 thing he was going to do to better his teammates. That advise helped lead him to an incredibly successful senior year.

Matt spoke about the culture of high school running in the south suburbs of Chicago when he was in high school. That culture of success and hard work inspired him to his success. As he saw others around him being successful it allowed him to believe he could be great and he should aspire to greatness.

Matt win of the Footlocker national championship was impressive both for who he beat and how he did it. I have an 8 minute highlight video below.

I want to thank Matt Withrow for coming to North Shore yesterday and sharing his story with our athletes. It is in the stories of others and there ups and downs that I believe our athletes can begin to believe in their ability to transform themselves.